Passfield white paper

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v • d • e 1929 Palestine riots

Hebron massacre • Safed massacre • Evacuation of Jews in Gaza • Shaw Report • Passfield white paper • Hope Simpson Royal Commission

The Passfield White Paper, issued October 1, 1930, by colonial secretary Lord Passfield, was a formal statement of British policy in Palestine previously set by the Churchill White Paper of 1922. It resulted from the Hope-Simpson Commission's investigation into the deeper causes of the Wailing Wall disturbances of 1929. The white paper limited official Jewish immigration to a much greater degree. The paper's tone was decidedly anti-Zionist since several of its institutions were severely criticized, including the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor) and the Jewish Agency, which both promoted Jewish employment of only Jewish labor. Like the Hope-Simpson Report, the Passfield White Paper found this policy damaging to the economic development of the Arab population.

Zionists claimed it backtracked from what they felt were commitments in the Balfour Declaration and, if implemented, would limit Jewish immigration to Palestine. Contrary to these claims, the White Paper states that the development of a Jewish National Home in Palestine is a consideration, which would enjoy continued support, but it was not central to mandate governance. The paper states that the British intend to fulfill their mandate obligations to both Arabs and Jews, and they would resolve any conflicts that might surface as a result of their respective needs.

Zionists organizations worldwide mounted a vigorous campaign against the document. In Britain it led to Ramsay MacDonald's clarification of the white paper in front of the British House of Commons and in a letter to Chaim Weizmann in 1931 (see below).